A Russian Santa Claus has reportedly died during New Year’s festivities at a kindergarten in Siberia.
Known as Ded Moroz, or Father Frost, Russian versions of Santa Claus host children’s holiday parties with the fairy tale snow maiden Snegurochka, in a still-popular Soviet-era tradition.
A man in a Ded Moroz costume died during festivities at a kindergarten in the Siberian city of Kemerovo, the local sibdepo.ru news website reported Tuesday.
“The man felt ill in the kindergarten, he was taken in an ambulance but died on the way to the hospital,” the outlet cited an unnamed medical source as saying.
The unidentified 67-year-old Ded Moroz “complained of chest pain” and died before the ambulance arrived, Interfax cited another unnamed source as saying.
